erhebung

Writing Teams, Ensemble Casts

Lately I’ve been taking large doses of two tele­vi­sion series: Deadwood and Homicide: Life on the Streets. Deadwood is the incred­ible creation of David Milch, a writer and producer who earlier in his career was involved in the creation of NYPD Blue (I’ve never seen this, but it is on one of my lists). I will be sad when I get to the last episode of Deadwood, but am certain I will be taking it in a second time sometime soon. The other show, Homicide: Life on the Streets, was put on tele­vi­sion by Paul Attanasio (now exec­utive producer of House, the original source material coming from writer and former journ­alist David Simon (David Simon is best known, now, for The Wire).

Creative, poetic writing teams and strong, cohesive ensemble casts: this is what makes them work, for me. And so, I was very pleased to see familiar faces from both Deadwood and Homicide: Life on the Streets in a newly-​released trailer for Treme, a forth­coming HBO show that has David Simon (see above) and Eric Overmyer (he, like Simon, was involved with The Wire, and also some­thing intriguing called St. Else­where, about a hospital) at the helm. I’m looking forward to seeing it. Here is the trailer:

Singles #15

The Puget Sound […] is a sound or complex of inland marine water­ways in the north­western part of Wash­ington, United States, extending from the eastern end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca south to the head of the sound at the state capital of Olympia. It branches out from Admir­alty Inlet and Decep­tion Pass in the north to Olympia, Wash­ington in the south.[…] The term is also used to mean the general region of the sound, including the Seattle met­ro­pol­itan area, home to about 4.2 million people.

‘Puget Sound’, Wiki­pedia

Ever­green College, Olympia, 2007.

When I took that pho­to­graph I felt so com­pletely at ease, so com­pletely free from the idiocy that had sur­rounded me only a week or two earlier, that I didn’t fully register where I was: I could have been in country for all it mattered at the time. I had escaped some­thing, and where I had escaped to was almost incid­ental. That is how I remember it, anyway, looking back after two years. I’ll have to go back and explore the waters around Olympia more care­fully someday, taking in the place for what it is, appre­ci­ating its unique textures. Hope­fully Teresa, the girl sitting on the beach, can come too.

Singles #12

An early start one morning. A wide blue sky and wind blowing in through open car windows. All the colours are intense (I can still see, in my mind, the tones). While driving down a road we see horses by the side of the road. Everyone is hungry, we are hunting for break­fast, but the light is strong and low, and the children want to see the horses, so we stop. The children wander around a field on one side of the road, the father takes pho­to­graphs (I imagine he did this, but I don’t remember — I was too busy taking pho­to­graphs myself). At some point the older of the two girls (there are two sisters, one brother, their father, and me) crouches down to look at a long blade of grass. The light is behind her; a small breeze is blowing; a noise catches her atten­tion and she glances over the road — click.

Wash­ington State, 2007.

That pho­to­graph brings back memories of a special time, a special family, and a special road trip. You know who you are, and yes, I will be back, at some point, I promise.

Crisis Care

This morning The Browser led me to ‘The Secret History of Hur­ricane Katrina’, an article about what happened after Hur­ricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and ‘Care During Crisis’, a series of pho­to­graphs (many by Magnum’s Paolo Pel­legrin) about health­care during the disaster. Both pieces are def­in­itely worth a look, if you get the chance. (And more gen­er­ally, I highly recom­mend The Browser, a great source of essays about, and com­mentary on, all manner of subjects.)

A pho­to­graph by Paolo Pel­legrin of Rodney Scott, “the last patient to leave the hospital in the evac­u­ation.” (Source)